Book friends often ask this question: Why do modern people’s calligraphy, despite their rich and proficient techniques, still not be able to surpass the ancients? The style is not as good as that of the ancients, nor is it as beautiful and durable as the ancients. why is that? When we read the calligraphy today, we can only see the "" results" written by the ancients, but we cannot see how the ancients used their pens and composed the words. Especially when the ancients wrote, how did they complete it stroke by stroke, looking back and forth, and being meticulous? , it is difficult to know, but it has nothing to do with the way the ancients wrote. Fortunately, ancient calligraphy and painting works have provided us with some clues. 1. The secret of dipping in ink. Carefully observe the ancient drawings, especially the pen tip, and why the ancients wrote like this. The reason why the pen tip is so delicate and beautiful is because the ancients usually only dipped the pen tip in ink when writing. The pen tip is the core of the pen movement. It is true that the tip of the pen is fine and short, and it is indeed better to control the pen tip. However, we found that this is not the case during practice. When writing with a long brush, you can write beautiful characters with just the skill and strength of the pen. So why did the ancients only use the tip of the pen to dip it in ink? It is probably not a big deal, because the ancient painters did not distort it when they created it. The ability to observe life is so meticulous that it is unlikely to make mistakes. Sun Xiaoyun, a famous contemporary calligrapher, has a special discussion on this in "Calligraphy Has Methods". She said: When I was very young, my mother told me to just use the pen. Soak one-third of the brush tip, and use only the tip of the brush. This is what my mother said. This shows that if you are a beginner, you might as well just dip a little of the brush tip in and grind it, and don't soak the whole brush. After you have mastered the skills, soak them all to exercise your pen strength and wrist strength. After all, the ancients' approach does have a certain truth. 2. The secrets of pen making in the Jin and Tang Dynasties also seem to echo the secrets of the writing tip. Based on the Wei, Jin and Tang Dynasties, due to the development of time and technology, the shape of the brush has been in the process of constant change and improvement. From the Wei, Jin to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the shape of the brush was mainly characterized by a thick, short and hard tip. Among them, the most famous one. It’s the Chicken-Gate Brush: Chicken-Gate Brush from the Jin and Tang Dynasties (Collected in Japan) Jin people writing pottery figurines The Jin people’s writing style is to bend over a desk or hold a scroll, which requires the brush to be vigorous and powerful. In fact, good calligraphy should be strong and powerful at any time. It is this kind of thick, short and stiff Jiju pen that has written countless beautiful masterpieces, such as: "Boyuan Tie" written by Jin Wang "Seeing the Law" Yan Zhenqing in the Tang Dynasty used the Jiju pen to compose "Manuscript for the Sacrifice of My Nephew". The Tang Dynasty's Jiju pen script "No Application for a Day" is a facsimile.